Last year, I was having a rough time during Thanksgiving. I had gotten divorced that year. I felt let down by a bunch of people I’d had expectations of. So I dubbed it Wanksgiving. But I ended up having a swell time by myself, doing what artists do. I wrote. So here’s Wanksgiving, Part I. …

“Everything I’ve ever written is my attempt to transform what is ugly and painful or difficult into something that’s beautiful and transformative, like the phoenix rising from the ashes.” -Cheryl Strayed The most interesting moments for me sometimes come when I get to ask other artists for advice. I’d tried and failed at something this …

http://vimeo.com/56817422 I was up in Ashland a few weekends ago for a writer’s conference hosted by Jessica Morrell, with keynote speaker Lidia Yuknavitch, but that’s not what I want to write about. The conference was great, but my conclusion on that weekend is that often the universe is pulling us in certain directions, but not …

If you grow up not believing in your abilities, or that you are worth the time it takes to nurture your abilities, you will often self-sabotage right when you are getting close to a goal. I’m not going to get into the addition of addictive tendencies that come from low self-esteem/genetic components because the bar …

Seems that 90% of my life involves fantasy. I wrote a post about this a while back. But I’ve noticed recently a theme, if you will. This entire year has been the year of delusions and fantasies. None of them came true. Not a single one. But yet, I was pulled in certain directions that …

“80% of success is showing up” — Woody Allen I’ve said before that I’ve become like the Terminator. You cannot keep me down. Every since I made a commitment to a lifelong journey of realizing my music and writing, I am not easily swayed to give up. Sure, I get just as discouraged as the …

There’s a scene in the movie Coffee and Cigarettes where Cate Blanchett plays two different characters: herself (a character who pretty much has everything, walks on gilded lilies) and a “cousin”–an indie musician dating other artists and living a life of pretty abject poverty due to being an indie musician. The indie cousin observes Blanchett’s …

“A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet I was up in some woods in California yesterday and the day previous, trying to clear my head. It’s been pretty damn cluttered lately. Once …